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Stars defensemen outlook: What's going on with Julius Honka and will he be on the Stars' roster this season?

Dallas Stars Julius Honka (#60) controls the puck while he plays in a game during the first day of Stars training camp at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, TX on September 19, 2014. (Kye R. Lee/The Dallas Morning News)(Kye R. Lee / Staff Photographer)

Jim Nill has said it before and he'll say it again: You can never have too many defensemen.

The Stars general manager went through that ordeal last year, when Dallas played 14 defensemen during the regular season, and nine in the playoffs. The Stars made four trades to acquire defensemen, and are now preparing their depth in the offseason.

Dallas signed defenseman Andrej Sekera (one year, $1.5 million with $500,000 in possible bonuses) after he was bought out by Edmonton when NHL free agency opened last week, a move that came after re-signing Roman Polak (one year, $1.75 million) and Taylor Fedun (two years, $737,500 cap hit).

The Stars now have a glut of defensemen to sort through, and a few questions to determine how all the pieces fit together.

Let's break the group of defensemen into tiers, based on where they'll likely play:

Is Stephen Johns healthyenough to contribute?

Johns missed all of last season with post-traumatic headaches, and did not play in any preseason, regular season or postseason games. Should Johns return to the lineup, he would be an ideal defensive partner for Miro Heiskanen. He's right-handed, physical, mobile and offensively capable, which would complement Heiskanen's speed and awareness all over the ice.

He skated for two of the four days during development camp last week, a sign of optimism for the upcoming season but certainly not an ironclad development in his recovery. Johns is in the second year of a contract that carries a $2.35 million cap hit and represents the Stars' best right-handed option on defense not named John Klingberg.

If Johns is ready to play again at the start of the season, Roman Polak likely gets bumped from the second pair with Heiskanen to the third pair with Andrej Sekera or Jamie Oleksiak and an extra spot in the lineup for young defensemen disappears. It could look like this:

Lindell-Klingberg

Heiskanen-Johns

Sekera/Oleksiak-Polak

If Johns is not ready, the Stars are left with decisions.

They could look into the trade market for a defenseman after Martin Hanzal is placed on long-term injured reserve, freeing up cap space to add a player during the season. They could bump Sekera up to play on his off side. They could do what they did last season, with Polak on the second pair and Taylor Fedun on the third. They could try one of their many young left-handed defensemen (Gavin Bayreuther, Joel Hanley, Dillon Heatherington, Emil Djuse and Ben Gleason) on the right side.

Stars coach Jim Montgomery alluded to potentially using Sekera as a top-four defenseman behind his main three of Klingberg, Heiskanen and Lindell, so perhaps that's the most likely option and would allow Polak to play third-pairing minutes against more favorable matchups.

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Lindell-Klingberg

Heiskanen-Sekera

Oleksiak-Polak

Plus, Sekera's profile as a shot limiting defenseman could pair nicely with Heiskanen on the second pairing if he's healthy. The Oilers allowed 7.32 fewer shot attempts per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 and 5.17 fewer shots on goal per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 with Sekera on the ice last year, both top 15 figures in the league.

No matter what the final decision ends up being, Stars training camp has another battle if Johns can't play.

Dallas Stars defenseman Jamie Oleksiak (2) makes a break with the puck during the first period of a game between the Dallas Stars and the Minnesota Wild on Friday, Feb. 1, 2019 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. (Ryan Michalesko/The Dallas Morning News)(Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

Where does Jamie Oleksiak fit in?

Before this week, Oleksiak seemed destined to reclaim his spot on the third pairing. He was a healthy scratch towards the end of the regular season last year and provided a jolt when he entered the lineup for Fedun in Game 3 against Nashville. But he hurt his knee in Game 6 against the Predators and could only watch as the Stars lost in seven games to the Blues.

Perhaps the series goes differently with Oleksiak paired with Ben Lovejoy on the third pairing instead of a rotation of Fedun, Hanley and Heatherington. The Blues were a big, heavy team and played a style that seemed to suit Oleksiak's. Now, he'll be locked in a battle for playing time on the left-side with Sekera.

Dallas Stars defenseman Julius Honka (6) gets hit in the shoulder with Washington Capitals right wing Brett Connolly's (10) stick during the second period of an NHL game between the Dallas Stars and the Washington Capitals on Friday, January 4, 2019 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

What's going on with Julius Honka?

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The Stars are trying to trade Julius Honka, their 2014 first-round pick who was a healthy scratch for the final 35 games of the regular season and all 13 postseason games. But as a young, talented and cheap defenseman, perhaps Honka's value rises as teams get closer and closer to the salary cap and need a small contract to fit.

Honka could have been a solution on the right side if Johns is not healthy, but he never earned the trust of the Stars coaching staff last season when he was given an opportunity to play top-pair minutes. The Stars traded for Jamie Oleksiak and Ben Lovejoy so that they wouldn't have to play Honka. Joel Hanley, Gavin Bayreuther, Dillon Heatherington and Taylor Fedun all passed him on the depth chart.

So if Honka is still on the NHL roster at the start of the season (he requires waivers to be sent to the AHL), the Stars might carry eight defensemen to both retain and shield Honka. It's what they did in every game after the All-Star break last season, when Honka was scratched for every game.

Among seven defenseman candidates, Fedun, Hanley and Heatherington all require waivers to be sent to the AHL. Bayreuther, Gleason, Djuse and Joseph Cecconi do not, making it easier to maintain inventory by sending them to Cedar Park.

Honka's presence doesn't necessarily open up another spot for a defenseman, but probably takes one away from the forward group. Instead of carrying two extra forwards (14 total), the Stars may only have space for one extra forward (13 total). But perhaps the Stars carry eight defensemen anyway.

Defenseman Gavin Bayreuther waits his turn during a drill on the first day of Dallas Stars development camp at the Dr Pepper StarCenter on Saturday, July 8, 2017, in Frisco. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

What is the trickle-down effectfor AHL affiliate Texas?

If the Stars choose to carry only seven defensemen in the NHL, it sets up a roster crunch in the AHL, both with the number of defensemen and with the league's veteran rule that only allows a team to play five players with more than 320 professional games played and one with more than 260.

If Johns is healthy and Honka is traded, the Stars could opt to carry Klingberg, Lindell, Heiskanen, Johns, Sekera, Polak and Oleksiak. That leaves Fedun, Hanley, Heatherington, Scarlett, Djuse, Bayreuther, Gleason and Cecconi AHL-bound. That already means Texas is carrying two extra defensemen, and the veteran rule squeezes them tighter.

Fedun (449 NHL and AHL games), Hanley (357), Scarlett (274) and Heatherington (265) all qualify as veterans in the AHL. Add them to Justin Dowling (455), Michael Mersch (333) and Tanner Kero (269), at least one player will have to sit in the press box to make space for younger players.

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While playing time for the 13th or 14th best defensemen in your system certainly isn't a main concern when you're assembling an NHL roster, it is a side effect of that decision. Last year, Fedun was a healthy scratch due to the veteran rule in Rochester before the Stars traded for him and he played in 54 NHL games.

Matthew DeFranks. Matt covers the Stars for SportsDay, and previously covered the Florida Panthers for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He's also covered college football, the Miami Marlins, the Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Angels for a variety of outlets. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame.